No Home

It could happen to anyone

“How did I become homeless? Without going into the gory details, I think it best to say: ‘Quite easily, could have happened to anyone’.”

A winning tale

Charlotte Neumann, former Oxford Homeless Pathways (OxHoP) project worker and keen creative writer, explores homelessness issues in her short stories. Her story Keeping Up Appearances, which features OxHoP (previously known as Oxford Night Shelter), won a story writing competition run by BBC Radio Oxford.

Quotes from clients and staff, past and present.

“O’Hanlon House gives an opportunity to get yourself back ‘on track’ – providing all basic amenities in a safe environment, and the necessary support services and contacts to move on.”

“I moved up to the resettlement floor quite fast and I think that if people are making the effort, move them on fast. I am trying hard to get a job. I want to get out and get on as soon as possible. I want to get on with my life.”

“I have never been to school in my life, and I thought I would never get a job, but I have at the post office and that’s because the staff here helped me. But I still think they get us up too early, especially at weekends!”

“You have your own room, which makes you more secure. I still don’t feel safe though.”

“I gradually came to believe I could get back into work and started to apply to employers with new-found confidence. I got a job as a bricklayer and am about to leave O’Hanlon House. I never could have achieved it without the help I received from the resettlement team.”

“Working at O’Hanlon House has taught me a lot about having preconceptions about ‘the homeless’. I have met some really fascinating, intelligent, ordinary people just like you and me, who have just been unfortunate in life, with the hand that’s been dealt them. One of the great things about O’Hanlon House is that it has staff that genuinely care for the residents and are willing to help them get back on the right track again.”